I run into a bath and body store during lunch because I think it won’t be very busy. I am wrong. They mailed me a coupon for 20% off my entire purchase, so I plan to buy a few of their scent pod things.

I have the coupon sticking out of the front pocket of my purse. It’s not sticking out super far; it is tucked in safely in the front pocket. I don’t know why anyone would notice it there. I never look at other people that closely when I’m out shopping; I kinda just keep my eye on the prize, so to speak. I’m not looking around at other people’s purses, that’s for sure.

I’m looking at the scent pods, smelling some, staying in my lane, and someone taps my shoulder. I turn around.

Lady: “Are you going to use that coupon?”

I’m really taken aback. I’m literally in the store that the coupon is for. If I’m shopping in the store with a coupon… I’m probably going to use it. So, even though I’m usually polite, I’m shocked enough at being interrupted by such a brazen question that I’m like:

Me: “Yes, that’s why I’m here.”

Lady: “Oh. The 20% off coupon?”

Me: “Yes.”

I try to turn back around, but she taps me again.

Lady: “Do you think they’ll let us both use it?”

Me: “Um… I don’t think so.”

At this point, she changes her tone and gets rude with me.

Lady: “Well, how do you know? Have you asked before?”

I am not the most assertive person.

Me: “Well, I could ask when I go up to the register…”

Lady: *Holding out her hand* “You can let me try it first, and then I’ll ask them.”

And I’m just standing there staring at her like, “What the f***?” The audacity! And does she think I’m dumb? Like, sure, you use the coupon first on your stuff and THEN ask if I can use it, they’ll inevitably say no, and I’ll be the one to be out of luck!

I finally just say:

Me: “No, sorry, I’ll ask when I go up.”

And then I turned around and walked a few steps away. I tucked the coupon deeper into my purse pocket because at this point she was bold enough that I was worried she’d just grab it. She watched me for a while, but I just kept looking at other things and trying to avoid eye contact.

When I did go up to pay, the cashier just took the coupon away and put it in their register. I didn’t even ask if I could use it again because I didn’t want to be THAT person. Then, I just quickly walked out of the store, eyes forward so I wouldn’t have to see this woman again.

And the thing is, she was already at the store with stuff in her bag! She was already planning to buy things. Nothing in that store is necessary. She just spied my coupon and was like, “Hmmm… I could get this stuff cheaper.”

Shaking my head.

I remember years ago in the store where I worked, my coworker and I were helping the owner of a local beauty salon. She suddenly turned to my coworker and said:

Salon Owner: “You would look so much better with whiter teeth! Come to my salon and I will help you!”

She kept spouting about it.

My coworker was a stunning young woman. There was nothing wrong with her teeth, but thanks to that salon owner, [Coworker] became very self-conscious about her teeth. She asked me if they needed whitening. I told her no, but she did end up going to a dentist for a whitening treatment that she did not need.

One of our stores does their usual “points” spiel. With every purchase, for every ten bucks you spend, you get a sticker that you have to collect, and with enough of these “points”, you can get a 10%, 20%, or 30% discount for a purchase once, depending on how many you collect.

I don’t collect them because I forget them anyway when it’s time to cash them in, so I usually hand them over to the next customer, and normally, this is not a big deal.

Normally.

Cashier: “And here are your points.”

I turn to the customer behind me.

Me: “I don’t collect these. Would you like them?”

Customer #1: *With a mix of contempt and indignation* “Do I look like I need your points?”

Me: “Uh… fine? Just asking.”

The customer behind her pipes up.

Customer #2: “Mind if I take them?”

Me: “Please do.”

Customer #1: “I didn’t say I wouldn’t take them, just that I don’t need them. I’m not poor!”

Me: “Nobody said you are. I just don’t collect them, that’s all.”

Customer #1: “Well, I will take them!”

At this point, though, she’s managed to tick me off just enough with her attitude that I don’t want to give them to her anymore. It’s not like these things are worth anything, but people who act like they’re doing me a favor by taking something out of my hand that others would at least say, “Thank you,” for doesn’t sit right with me.

Me: “Sorry, nope. You rejected them.” *Looks [Customer #2] behind her* “You asked for them, so you get them.”

Customer #1: *To the cashier* “Gimme my points! He gave them to me first!” 

The cashier just looks at me expectantly.

Me: “Well, give them to me.”

The cashier gladly obliges and is visibly happy that she got out of this hassle. I hand the little stickers to [Customer #2], who thanks me for them.

Customer #1: “You can’t give her my points!”

Me: “Lady, they are, first of all, my points. What I do with my points is my business. Please stay out of it.”

Customer #1: “You gave them to me!” 

Me: “No. I offered them to you; you didn’t want them.”

Customer #1: “But then I said I wanted them!”

Me: “Why would a woman who so clearly doesn’t need any handouts get upset about not getting them?”

She changes colours a few times, gasps, and then screams some profanities at me.

Me: *Leaving* “Lady, you may not need my points, but you sure need some manners.” 

Quite frankly, I hate shopping during “points” times.

I’ve started a new job in retail, and it’s one of my first weeks on register duty. I am still learning the keys. Keying in multiple items, e.g., ten chocolate bars, instead of scanning them one by one requires a supervisor code.

A well-dressed man comes through my line with thirty-two cups of instant noodles of varying flavours and varying amounts of each. I lose count with all the beeps and all of the slightly different cups, so I accidentally ring up thirty-five cups.

He pays and the receipt prints. He checks it and immediately has half his body shoved through a gap in the Plexiglas screen. (This is during social distancing.)

Customer: “What are you trying to do here? I bought thirty-two, and you rang up thirty-five!”

Me: “Sorry, sir, it was an honest mistake. Let me just—” 

Customer: “‘Honest mistake’, my a**! That was intentional so you lowlifes can steal my money!”

Me: “I can assure you, sir, I merely miscounted, but if I could just—” 

Customer: “How hard can it be to count? Did you fail math class?”

Me: “It was an honest mistake because it’s so many—”

Customer: “I bet that’s what you always do with the old ladies to rip them off! They’re old and senile, so they won’t notice you pocketing some extra money!”

I drag my wallet out of my pocket.

Me: “You know what, sir? I overcharged you — what, three times forty cents. Here, you can have 1.20€ out of my own pocket; you clearly need it more than a broke university student.”

Customer: “How dare you?! I want to speak to your boss!”

Me: “He is not in anymore; he already went home. He will be here tomorrow after eight.”

Customer: “Give me his name! And your name! I will complain about you! I will write a letter!”

At this point, the young woman behind him interrupts his tirade and screams at him.

Next Customer: “Just piss off already! Seeing how you dress, you’d think you’re well-off, but to be such a b**** over such a minor mistake?! F****** cheapskate! You got your money, so take your s***ty cup-noodles and f*** off!”

The man just went, “Well, I never!”, huffed, and finally did f*** off.

The woman, the coworker on a register behind me, and I had a good laugh about that man.

This past Christmas, my missus and I purchased one of our nine-year-old son’s Santa gifts from a certain UK sports retail company that also has many stores here in Ireland. It was a football rebounder — kind of like a trampoline that you kick the ball at and it bounces back to you. Anyway, we purchased it from their Irish website and thought nothing more of it.

A few days went by, and we got a notification from the courier company that there were customs charges due on something. As you can imagine, we’d bought many things for the kids, so we had to double-check what we’d ordered. We didn’t have anything left that was being imported, so we naturally assumed it was a scam. I told my wife to call the company and find out who shipped it, and it was a different courier company based in the UK. After a bit of digging and investigating, it turned out that it was our rebounder. They had shipped it from the UK via a local carrier to [Courier Company] to deliver to us.

My wife and I are both on disability. An additional charge of almost €50 when you’re both already on a fixed income is harsh, especially at Christmas, so I told her to pay it and I’d deal with the retailer.

The first day I called, I had to call three times, being stuck on hold for at least twenty minutes each time. I was patient and polite because I’ve worked in a call centre before, so I knew those people were only doing their job, but I asked to speak to a manager and was promised a call back each time that never happened.

The second day was quite similar.

On the third day, I was starting to get annoyed, so I called back, waiting even longer on hold, and finally wasn’t taking this s*** any longer. I told the representative that all I wanted was the €50 back because our consumer rights in Ireland dictate that a person must be informed of any additional charges on a purchase by the final checkout screen at the very latest, and in this case, there was nothing to show that. I could easily replicate that issue by putting the same item in my basket and going all the way to the checkout screen again, and there was nothing saying we’d have to pay import charges.

The representative was indifferent to the situation but tried to “help”, and what he said sent me over the edge. He offered me a measly €20 gift voucher to use on their website, but more importantly, he read a statement to me.

Representative: “We advise our customers that there may be DDU charges (Delivery Duty Unpaid, i.e. customs charges) on any item that gets shipped outside of the UK.”

Me: “Where does it state this information?”

He paused for a moment.

Representative: “I don’t actually know.”

Me: “Well, I know one thing: it doesn’t say it anywhere on this transaction because I’ve checked. And because this is a violation of my consumer rights, I’m going to give your company one last chance to make this right. Have your manager call me within the next sixty minutes, or I’m going to post this entire debacle on LinkedIn and link every senior officer in your company!”

Then, I hung up the phone and waited. Yet again, no call.

The next day, I went on LinkedIn and followed through on my promise. I created a post detailing what they had done by sticking us with hidden charges, mentioning that they were ignoring our requests for a manager, and everything they said and did. Then, I tagged EVERY senior officer at that company from the regional managers, through the European directors, all the way to the CEO, and I shamed them for how they operated their company. This, ladies and gentlemen, was now an act of war.

Shortly after I posted that, I noticed that they took down the item from their website in an attempt to hide this, but they must have thought I was a simpleton who doesn’t understand how the Internet works. They didn’t realise that when you searched for “rebounder” on their site, it showed the item in question, so I took a screenshot of that and then another of the item page that was now “missing”. Then, I did a Google cache search for the same page and found a version from two days prior happily showing the item.

I added a comment to my original post highlighting how they were trying to hide it, with the evidence, and trolling them for their heinous behaviour, ESPECIALLY at Christmas. Then, I tagged and shamed all the senior officers again.

At that point, it was really starting to get some attention, not only publicly, but three people in “incognito mode” had viewed my profile. I wonder who they could have been.

So, naturally, I took a screenshot of the three mysterious visitors listed on my profile and did the same thing: commented on my own post highlighting it and trolling them for their incompetence.

The next morning, I got a call from a senior executive at their head office in the UK practically licking my boots with apologies, asking what she could do to make this right.

Me: “I originally only wanted my €50 back as it wasn’t fair, nor even legal, that I had to pay it, but since I had to go to such lengths to get your attention, now I want my €50 back and a full refund on my entire purchase, and I want to keep the product. That is the only thing that will make this go away.”

Senior Executive: “Give me a couple of hours to fix it.”

Me: “Okay.”

About an hour later, I got another call from her again apologising. She asked for my PayPal address and sent the €50, then she refunded the whole purchase, and she let us keep the product. Obviously, I thanked her for her help because at that stage I was just happy it was over, but I’ll be f***ed if I’ll let anyone walk all over my family, even if they are a £58,000,000 annual company.

The moral of the story here is: don’t take bulls*** from anyone. I may be just one man, but my son’s view of Santa is FAR more valuable to me than the opinion of some retail chain that doesn’t care about its customers or how it operates ethically.